The Return of Boston Blackie (1927)

Before the highly successful Chester Morris series of Boston Blackie films in the 1940s there were a number of other adaptations of the character in the silent movie era, this was the last "silent" Boston Blackie film before the series returned with sound in the 1940s.

Boston Blackie (Raymond Glenn) has just spent two years in jail, He makes a vow to go straight but ends up involved with Sylvia (Corliss Palmer) who has stolen a necklace from a dancer. 

It turns out the jewels belong to Sylvia's father (who was having a bit on the side with the dancer). Blackie agrees to break into the father's safe to put the jewel's back.

The star of the film though is Blackie's dog Strongheart who gets top billing! The film is fine enough, nothing at all like the later talkies. A pleasant if not exceptional watch.

Find the Blackmailer (1943)

A bright and breezy crime drama involving a talking crow!

Mayoral candidate Rhodes (Gene Lockhart) comes to private investigator DL Trees (Jerome Cowan) with an unusual request. A talking crow owned by a man called Molner is being used to blackmail Rhodes which is threatening to scupper his election chances. 

Trees goes in search of Molner but finds the man has been killed by gangsters collecting a debt. But where is the crow? Maybe Molner's girlfriend Mona Vance (Faye Emerson) knows something...

This is a fine B-movie crime romp with the usual fast moving action and plenty of wise cracks. A well worn recipe seen in dozens of films of course but always entertaining. Jimmy the Crow is probably the real star on show.

Sign of the Wolf (1941)

A surprisingly enjoyable film about some very clever dogs and rather unscrupulous humans.

Judy (Grace Bradley) has two performing Alsatian dogs (Smokey and [Grey] Shadow). When the two dogs fight at a dog show, causing her to miss out on a prize she decides to sell Shadow much to the dismay of Ben (Mantan Moreland). He smuggles Shadow aboard the flight back to Canada. The plane crashes in bad weather. Shadow manages to bring help to Judy and Ben in the shape of Rod (Michael Whalen). 

However, where has Smoky gone? Unfortunately, Smoky has been grabbed by two thieves who want to use the dog to steal fox fur pelts...

This is a fun little film with some good heroic dog action and a growing romance in the snow bound Canadian woods. Low budget doesn't have to mean low quality (or vice versa) after all.

Carnival Magic (1983)

Time for our 900th review!

Life at a low-rent seedy carnival with all it's questionable glamour; all mediocre acts, threadbare costumes and bored exploited animals. Stoney (Mark Weston) is the carnival owner and things aren't going very well; sales are down, his two main acts are fighting and he refuses to accept his daughter Ellen (Jennifer Houlton) is really a girl and calls her Bud instead. Tiger tamer Kirk (Joe Cirillo) doesn't like the magician Markov (Don Stewart) hanging around his big cats. He demands Stoney fires Markov...

But Markov has a secret, he is sharing his caravan with a talking chimp called Alex (Trudi the chimp) - well when we say talking it is mostly grunting with bad dubbing. With Alex the chimp now revealed, Markov is forced to include him in his act and the carnival's sales suddenly rise. Kirk is no longer top of the bill and sells Alex to an evil vivisectionist Dr Poole (Charles Reynolds)...

The film doesn't explain how Alex can talk and how Markov can read minds for real. That is the least of the film's problems though, It really isn't very good, though the sheer nonsense can be entertaining. There is a degree of farce, such as Alex stealing a car, and some drama - some of it quite dark. One high point is the fact Don Stewart - who admittedly was pretty buff in this - in most scenes is wearing less clothes than his chimp.

Mooch (1974)

The sort of weird inconsequential little film that could only be made in the 1970s. Mooch is yet another young female hopeful eager to get to Hollywood and become a star. However, there are many pitfalls, dangers and obstacles a starlet needs to overcome to make it. Oh we should have mentioned, Mooch is a dog...

Mooch is guided by the helpful voice of Zsa Zsa Gabor and encounters a number of stars including Vincent Price and Jill St John. Will Mooch make it as a star? 

This is really quite odd and formless. Despite the animal actor it's not really a children's movie, the jokes are often quite adult (including Mooch's dream of being an exotic dancer!) The plot is rather thin and pedestrian but the film is enjoyable enough if just for the nostalgia and the star spotting. Mooch the dog is a very good animal actor. 

The Savage Girl (1932)

After Tarzan comes... the Savage Girl, a wild white girl in the jungle with perfect flowing locks and a very stylish off the shoulder leopard skin dress! Stitch (Harry Myers), an alcoholic millionaire, hires explorer Jim Franklin (Walter Byron) to take him to Africa to get some animals for a zoo he wants to impress his neighbours. Once they reach Africa they hire Adolf Milar (Alec Bernouth) to take them into the bush...

As well as lions and gorillas they soon discover a white girl (Rochelle Hudson) who lives feral in the jungle and is friends with the animals, especially the chimps. When the hunters capture animals she releases them. So they decide to capture her. Afterwards though Franklin gets sweet on her and thinks they should let her go. However, Milar has other ideas. We never find out if the wild girl is wearing pants, but if she is, Milar wants to get into them...

A very silly and ridiculous film with incredibly dated stereotypes but is pretty amusing and charming. It is basically Tarzan as a girl but can be enjoyed in it's own right.

Police Dog (1955)

A fairly light police drama but not a shaggy dog story. After PC Frank Mason's (Tim Turner) partner is shot by a burglar spiv (Cecil Brock), Frank decides to become a police dog handler. Frank is given Rex to train up and look after. Frank takes Rex home but this soon causes tension and jealousy between Frank and his girlfriend Pat (Joan Rice). Frank meanwhile is also keen to find the gunman...

There is nothing too surprising here, it has the usual depictions of British life in the 1950s, everyone humble but cheerful. The dog training scenes are interesting though and Rex plays a good role (an actual retired police dog).

Christopher Lee and John Le Mesurier have cameos as fellow police officers to Frank, Lee being unkeen on dogs and getting bit!

Tarzan's Revenge (1938)

A middling jungle romp. Eleanor (Eleanor Holm) is on a trip to Africa with her parents and her fiance (George Meeker), who is a bit wet though likes shooting animals with his rifle. The local sultan Ben Alleu Bey (C. Henry Gordon) likes the look of Eleanor who fancies adding a feisty American woman to his harem...

Tarzan (Glen Morris) also takes a liking to Eleanor when he finds he stuck in a pond. Nobody believes Eleanor when she tells the others about Tarzan. However their paths soon cross again...

Not the best Tarzan though, he acts rather childish and barely says a word. However as Morris was a former Olympic decathlete he certainly had the physique! Eleanor makes the film though, which is just as well as there isn't a great deal of acting going on from anyone else. Expect dated stereotypes, animal exploitation and a rather thin plot. It shouldn't be taken very seriously.

Anoop and the Elephant (1972)

A rather charming children's film about an elephant and the circus. Anoop (Anoop Singh) is on a school camping trip with his class (which includes a very young Linda Robson). At a circus next to the campsite Anoop finds a rather forlorn looking elephant Ranne (Bella from Chessington Zoo in fact).

Unfortunately a nasty rival circus owner Skinner (George Roderick) wants to take Ranne away to Belgium. Penny (Rachel Brennock) who has trained Ranne gets Anoop's and the other children's help in saving Ranne from Skinner's clutches. Many hijinks follow.

Its all rather corny but sweet in an early 1970s way. Simpler fun in simpler times. Much nostalgia for school trips will be generated if you are of a certain age, even if they didn't involve an elephant.

Captured in Chinatown (1935)

What a wonderfully weird film! Two Chinese clans seemingly endless blood feud is finally ended by a couple (Joy Ling and Wing Foo) who cross the divide. To cement the union a highly valuable jade necklace is to be presented at the wedding but some (American) crooks led by Zamboni (Paul Ellis) plot to steal it.

Amid this mayhem a young reporter couple Bob and Ann (played by Charles Delaney and Marion Shilling) in a love-hate relationship who get wrapped up in the theft and save the day and avert a full on bloody Triad war.

The real star of the show is Tarzan the dog who performs tricks like turning on the gas to boil the kettle for his owner's coffee and delivering notes. Tarzan is also probably the best actor in the film too (and got top billing).

Tarzan's tricks are mostly to pad the film out as there isn't a lot of storyline to fill the time otherwise. It is all pretty awful but happily it's in the "so bad it's good" category mostly because the dated stereotypes are just so ridiculous.